Latest Posts
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The Right to Die
So, the NYT editorial page comes down on the Confucian side of the debate: that people should have the option of doctor-assisted suicide when they face terminal illness. The Times argument – which supports the position… Continue reading
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Liberal Confucianism/Confucian Liberalism
Yesterday was a busy news day in the US: a controversial Supreme Court nominee; another indictment of the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives; continuing political upheaval in Iraq. So much was happening that this post at… Continue reading
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Happiness
A nice piece in the NYT on happiness in general and Bhutan in particular. It seems in Bhutan a concerted effort is made to foster not only material development but subjective happiness: "We have to think of human… Continue reading
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Zhang Huan’s “My Boston”
I don’t know what is more interesting: this description of Zhang Huan’s performance art; or the fact that the Boston Globe story ran in the China Daily. Here we have an officially sanctioned Chinese newspaper running commentary on… Continue reading
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Modern Love: The Emotional Limits of Filiality
Brian Goedde writes about his breakup with his girlfriend. His psychotherapist (people still do psychotherapy? – I thought it was mostly drugs now…) tells him to interview people who knew the two of them to answer the question… Continue reading
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How ‘Bout that I Ching!
Just as the oracle predicted back on August 12th, the New York Yankees won the American League East Division today. Indeed, it is the eigth time in a row the boys from the Bronx have taken this distinction:… Continue reading
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Friday I Ching: Science, Religion and Nature
This may be a peculiarly American obsession: the debate that rages about how science and religion might explain, and provide ethical guidance for, our understandings of nature. The controversy of late has centered on interpretations of natural selection… Continue reading
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Caring
An interesting op-ed in today’s Washington Post by Leon Kass, the Chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics. He focuses on our ethical obligation to provide close and loving care of aging elders, an issue of increasing significance… Continue reading
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Confucius on the Outside, Not on the Inside
I can’t let this one go by. Another People’s Daily commentary invoking Confucius. Once again, a state-sponsored intellectual is singing the praises of Chinese foreign policy, arguing that it follows along the harmonious path suggested by the Venerable… Continue reading
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Unintelligent Design
A trial is currently taking place in Pennsylvania, in which a local school board is being sued for violating the separation of church and state by its insistence on introducing the concept of "intelligent design" in public schools. … Continue reading
The Useless Tree 